[Mina] 988 is the suicide and crisis lifeline.
You can access us through call, chat,
or text by reaching out
to 988 at any of those options.
We're here to meet you in your moment of greatest need.
Crisis is just a moment that exceeds your ability to handle it
at that moment in time.
I get callers all the time who are like, “I've never called before.”
“I don't know how to do this.”
The cool thing is, there is no way to do this.
You just show up exactly as you are.
[Kimberly] You can reach out and be like,
you know, “Hey, this is my first time reaching out.”
“What is it like?”
“What is the usual process?”
We'll just talk about it.
[Mina] When we answer the call, you'll get an introduction.
For me that would be, “988 Lifeline, this is Mina, how can I support you?”
And then we open up the floor for the caller to kind of
give us a little context about what's bringing them in this moment.
[Jackie] The conversation is navigated by you.
So whatever you're open to share,
we're there to listen to it.
[Mina] From there, we'll try to get an idea of your safety.
You know,
“Any thoughts of hurting yourself, any thoughts of hurting anybody else?”
And from there, decide whether any
further safety questions are necessary
and if medical attention may be appropriate.
Once we get through that point,
we'll kind of focus a little bit more on emotional support,
validating the experience, you know, listening to your feelings,
letting you know that it's okay
to be feeling the way you are and that you're not alone in this.
As we work toward the end of the call,
we'll kind of work together to try to figure out
what are we going to do after this call?
[Kimberly] When you contact 988, in general,
you can expect to be talking to someone who is empathetic,
who is going to approach the conversation in a trauma-informed way,
in an educated way, and in a curious way.
[Mina] People call 988 for a lot of different reasons.
People call because they're having conflict with-
in a significant relationship. Sometimes people experience
a significant loss or a transition in their life and it's destabilizing.
People also call for safety reasons, you know, self harm, harm against others,
but people also use us as support for substance abuse.
Teens are people, so they call for people reasons.
[Kimberly] 988 is important to me
because when I was a teenager and I was going through my own crises,
I didn’t know 988 was a thing
and I didn't really have crisis support.
It's hard being a teenager. It really is.
They deserve just as much support as anyone else.
For me, support is whatever you need from me in that moment.
So if you need me to listen while you're venting, I got you.
If you need resources, I can help you with that too.
[Mina] 988 is a safe space.
988 is a space where you can show up exactly how you are
without embarrassment, without fear.
And if there's a moment that you would have rather not been alone in,
that's a moment worth calling for.